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TURKISH television journalist Mehmet Ali Birand yesterday hit back at
criticism levelled against him over a discussion programme between Turkish
and Turkish Cypriot students in the north, which had to be cut short when
chaos erupted.

In an article in yesterday's Turkish Daily News (TDN), Birand accused his
critics of being responsible for depicting the conflict between the two
factions. He denied he was responsible. “The subject matter was the way I
ended the programme by saying, 'This is Cyprus...' Birand said.

He said that during the programme the Turkish students had referred to the
Turkish Cypriots as "leftists" and "no-good ingrates" and said Birand
should not have let the Turkish Cypriots speak.

“They see their participation in the programme as an attempt -- on my part -
- to divide the people living in the North. They consider it 'sedition',”
TDN quoted him as saying.

“On one hand there was a group from Turkey, a group with a harsh,
repressive attitude, telling the Turkish Cypriots 'You are here thanks to
us. You cannot possibly turn into ingrates, betraying Turkey!'. On the
other hand there was a group of Turkish Cypriots telling them 'We are fed
up. So you have saved us. Where has that gotten us? If no solution can be
found we too will have to migrate',” he added. “Gentlemen, who has reduced
Cyprus to this level? Can you tell me? (Is it) the Cypriot administrators,
politicians, academics, bureaucrats appointed from Turkey, troops stationed
on the island, even the Turkish tourists visiting the island for a few days,
who have reduced Cyprus into this state?”

Birand accused Turkey of implementing its own “degenerate system”, causing
problems to escalate. “It put people on a payroll. It stifled the
youngsters' hopes and impoverished the people,” he said. “Gentlemen, this
way we have lost the island long ago. Only we are not aware of it. It is
one thing to keep a piece of land in hand with 30,000 troops. It is
something else to excite and motivate a society. It is not a TV programme
that has brought Cyprus to this spot. That programme merely held a mirror
to Cyprus and to you all. Do not look elsewhere to find the persons
responsible for that scene. We, all of us, are responsible.”

THE ISLAND'S Chief European Union negotiator George Vassiliou leaves for
Brussels today to wrap up the last two chapters of the EU acquis
communautaire covering agriculture and budgets. Vassiliou will meet
European officials to discuss pending issues concerning the two chapters,
in order to close them as soon as possible, signalling the end of the
marathon talks between Cyprus and the EU, Vassiliou told the Cyprus News
Agency.

“On Monday, I hope to close the negotiations once and for all,” Vassiliou
said, adding that the proposals given to Cyprus on the chapter of
agriculture “basically meet” the demands put forward by the people in this
sector.He said there were no remaining points on which any substantive
negotiations were needed. Vassiliou plans to return to the island on
Tuesday.

THE SKELETON of a woman that dates back at least 200 years has been
unearthed at the site of the new Supreme Court building in Nicosia.

According to yesterday's Phileleftheros workmen discovered the bones on
Friday morning while digging and called police.

State Pathologist Eleni Antoniou has studied the bones and believes they
belong to a woman who died between 200 and 500 years ago.

Also found at the same site, located to the west of the site of the new
building, was crockery and other artefacts.

Antoniou believes the workmen may have discovered an old tomb.

“Everything that has been found has been photographed and documented and
sent to the Department of Antiquities,” she said. “They will carry out
further investigations to determine the exact date of the skeleton. It's
the first time that a tomb has been discovered in this area and we do not
yet known if this is the site of a cemetery, or whether it is an isolated
grave.”

The discovery of the skeleton and the artefacts will help archaeologists
decide on the historic value of the site. But it is not expected to affect
the construction of the new building.